Catamenial napkin belt



April 7, 1953 F. M. STRlNGHAM 2,633,847

CATAMENIAL NAPKIN BELT Filed March 31, 1952 Floyd M. String/1amINVENTOR.

BY M /4% Patented Apr. 7, 1.953 V OFFICE V CATAMENIAL NAPKIN BELT 7Floyd M. S tringham, Seattle, wa Application'Marchs1,1952,serialNelzvass's' 1 Claim. (Cl. 128291) This invention relatesto new and useful improvements and structural refinements in belts,particularly belts of the type which are commonly employed forsuspending or sustaining in position catamenial napkins, and theprincipal object of the invention is to provide a belt of this characterwhich may be conveniently and comfortably worn on the body in readinessfor attachment of a napkin thereto as soon as an occasion to do soarises, and which will be effectively sustained in a proper position onthe body regardless of any movement or change of posture to which theuser may subject herself.

As is well known, conventional belts of this nature are not altogethercomfortable or inconspicuous to wear, and as a result, the prospectiveuser thereof customarily defers the installation of the belt on her bodyuntil the last moment, only to find that in many instances, the belt hasbeen forgotten or misplaced and consequently is not available forimmediate use.

Moreover, conventional belts, when subjected to downward pull by anapkin, slide down from the waistline both in front and at the back, sothat the belt is only improperly supported at the sides by the hips, andeventually even these supporting regions become ineffective when thebelt rolls down from the hips during normal movements of the body.

The instant invention eliminates these disadvantages by the provision ofa belt which may be comfortably and inconspicuously worn per se, thatis, without the napkin, to which the napkin may be quickly and easilyattached when so desired, and which will dependably remain in position,without shifting, on the body.

Some of the advantages of the invention reside in its simplicity ofconstruction and in its adaptability to economical manufacture.

With the above more important objects and features in view, and suchother objects and features as may become apparent as this specificationproceeds, the invention consists essentially of the arrangement andconstruction of parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure '1 is a perspective view of the belt constructed in accordancewith the invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view illustrating the belt in use;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary elevational view showing the connectionbetween the front and the rear sections of the belt; and,

Figure 4 is a sectional detail, taken substantially on the plane of thelined-4 of Figure 3.

Like characters of reference are employed to designate like parts in thespecification and throughout the several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the inventionconsists of a catamenial napkin belt which is designated generally bythe reference character In and embodies in its construction a waistencircling band [2 of resilient material, while a pair of resilientstraps M are provided at the respective front and rear portions of theband, as is best shown in Figure 1. Each of these straps I4 is securedat both ends thereof to the band l2, such as for example, by stitchingl6, and a pair of napkin attaching tabs l8 are secured by stitching 20to the mid-portions of the respective straps M, from which the tabsdepend as shown.

The band I2 is substantially wider than the straps l4 and the two strapsinitially overlie the band and are secured thereto in such manner thatthe lower edges of the straps are in register with the lower edge of theband, as shown in Figure 1.

However, when the belt is to be placed in use in combination with thenapkin, the straps M are pulled downwardly so that they assume a V-shaped position as shown in Figure 2, whereby a napkin (not shown) maybe attached to the 7 tabs 18 in any suitable manner. The V-shaped strapsabsorb the downward pull of the napkin by diverting it to opposite sidesto the front and back, so that the belt is prevented from sliding,rolling or otherwise shifting from its proper position.

In order to prevent the band I2 from curling or twisting longitudinallywhen the straps are pulled downwardly, the band itself is preferablycomposed of two sections 12A, and I ZB, which have overlapped endportions at the sides of the belt as secured together by stitching asindicated at 22.

It will be noted that when the belt is not in use for supporting anapkin, it may still be retained in position on the body, in whichinstance the straps I4 lie flatly on the band 12 so that the belt is notuncomfortable or inconspicuous to wear.

It is believed that the advantages and use of the invention will bereadily understood from the foregoing disclosure and accordingly,further description thereof at this point is deemed unnecessary.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredembodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minorinvention, what is to the associated band section, and a pair of napkinattaching tabs provided on mitt-portions of,

the respective straps, said straps beingvnormally straight and havingtheir lower edges coplanar with lower edge portions of said band butbeing deformable into a substantially V-shaped configuration by adownward pull on said tabs.

FLOYD M. STRINGHAM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the files ofthis patent:

UNITED: STATES :PA'I'ENTS 7 Number Name Date '1;801,161 Itkawitz et a1Apr. '14, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS :Number Country Date 261,198 GreatBritain Nov. 18, 1926

